Work and Play

Recently I was reading a most interesting book on Human Design called Abundance by Design, by Karen Curry Parker. Her introduction spoke to me, then there was a long section – half the book – of HD analysts talking about how Human Design made a difference in their lives, and then came the meat: how Human Design Types and Centers interact with the search for abundance.  To tell the truth, I skipped over most of the stories in order to get to the specifics of creating abundance by HD Type;  I’m a detail-oriented person with a limited attention span, and I wanted to get right to the point.

However… the penultimate story before the HD-Abundance section was by David Buck, and it was entitled Playing.  Buck starts with a discussion of how we adapt to the concerns of those around us:  safety, logic, work, focus, all the boxes of expectation and obligation.  By the time you’re 40, you’ve forgotten how to be who you are.  This is exactly what Human Design attempts to show you:  the circuitry and design of the fabulous, creative, unique YOU that you are born to be.  Instead, we are conditioned by others in various ways to do what we have to do, what we ought to do, by duty and obligation and expectation – and in Geotran, we see duty and obligation as making us ‘do what we would not do’ (i.e., disobedience to the divine blueprint), while the expectations of others keeps us in the box of mediocrity (and mediocrity is the enemy of excellence). <sigh>

In our most recent Geotran Conference (July, 2019), we collectively realized that there is a whole new world starting right about NOW.  This is exactly what Buck discusses in his article:  that not only is your childhood gone, but also the world you trained for has gone.  Jobs no longer last a working lifetime;  marriages seem rather temporary;  all the political, social, and religious rules have changed (or you have outgrown them).  No one is truly ‘safe’, on any level.

Is there a solution?  About 40 is when people start to focus on play rather than work.  The only challenge here is that we have been trained out of any notion, inspiration, or creative ability to play!  (This is where I sat up and took notice.)  As Buck remarks on page 128,

“Industrial babies were taught to never make mistakes or get wrong answers.  You were taught that life is a job.  You are here to do your work and ‘work’ at everything.  We work in our careers, at our golf game, at relationships, on our diet, on our children… we freakin’ work on everything!

When we are born, we are expected to jump into life and start working, finding our way as we go, ‘working on our weaknesses’, practicing until we perfect our strengths.  But this model no longer works.”

Ah-HA! Working that hard, at what society (family, spouse, religion, society) demands that we be means that we never get to be authentic or real. I’m not suggesting we fall back on tantrums and tizzies, like the three-year-old child in Buck’s story, but we can re-engage that self-confidence, authenticity, passion, and receptivity that every toddler takes for granted. (I nearly said “we can work to re-acquire that” – NO!) We can reframe our lives so that it is NOT a ‘job’, but a game, a joyful, fun, juicy, natural form of PLAY, as distinct from the kind of game that is just a manipulation.  We can bring in our superpowers – our gifts/talents/genius – and find or create environments where we are the ONE to solve that problem or win that game.

In Human Design, there are 36 superpowers, and the joy of knowing your Rave Chart is that you get to give yourself permission to PLAY with YOUR superpower.  You can combine that superpower with the open spaces in your chart to play, to be flexible and adaptable in a way that opens up your psyche rather than enclosing it in that box of safety.  You can use your genius to play your best cards in the Game of Life, to the benefit of yourself and others, and in ways that are full of ease and grace rather than stress and struggle.

Once you acknowledge your superpowers and genius, the discipline and focus you brought to ‘work’ becomes a tool rather than a whip with which to beat yourself.  Take knitting, for example. There is an enormous difference between, say, working to finish a shawl (obligation), and picking up my needles because I’m excited about a new pattern, and the colors I have to hand, and the person who will be receiving the finished piece with pleasure and appreciation, and enjoying the act of knitting itself.  Writing is an even better example. In the past, I would get inspired, and I’d sit down and write an 80,000 word book in about three weeks.  Right now, there are two books in the same series that I ‘need’ or ‘ought’ to finish and I cannot even open the files.  However, when I get an idea – such as Abundance in Human Design, or playing rather than working – I can immediately write a thousand or two thousands words with ease and enjoyment.  Wow, I get to be ME!  Exercising my eloquence and genius! What a concept!

What if you reframed a fight (to survive, to make a living, to provide for others) as a dance?

What if you saw life as an opportunity to play, to express, to use your superpowers for good?

What if you saw your individuality and gifts as assets rather than awkward quirks?

What if you noticed and praised your body for doing so well, rather than focusing on every little ache and pain?  What if you enjoyed living in the physical rather than tolerating it?

What if you welcomed those little flashes of inner freedom rather than worrying about them?

What if you made a commitment to only spend time with those people and situations who help you feel good about yourself?  What would it look like to adapt to that?

The universe never lies:  if you are struggling or working too hard, then perhaps something is out of alignment. What if you were to look in a new direction?

The core of Geotran is restoring choice: what if you could be so YOU that you could easily and consistently choose to play with grace, blessing, and fun?